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This came up in a game and I would like to know which way this works. A unit is in melee with a Noise Marine unit. 3 Noise Marines are destroyed. The NM player chooses to destroy 3 NMs that are in the back of the unit. These 3 marines were not within 1" of any enemy unit.

The question- When does a model lose its status as a member of the unit? If it is at "destroyed" then the NM player is free to select whichever ranged weapon he has available and may choose any legal target (ie., any unit that is in range and LoS) assuming the model wasn't engaged from where it stood. If it isn't until after Music of the Apocalypse has run its course then the marine player may only use pistols and may only choose the unit that inflicted the damage as its target.

Which is the correct scenerio? Thank you. As always rules quotes would be helpful.

They are still part of the unit until removed from the table or rules state otherwise. I don't see anything that states otherwise in a quick scan of the rule. It actually states that you are not to remove the model from the unit until after the attack is made. Since the unit they are apart of is in engagement range of an enemy, then they can only shoot with ranged weapons that can shoot while within engagement range. Generally this is only Pistols, however I am not an expert on every faction's weapons and relics so there may be others that can do so, such as the Lash of Torment on Lucius the Eternal.

Agreed, nothing says that a model stops being part of the unit before you remove the model.

Agreed. MOTA allows them to shoot with pistols only. It doesnt matter if the opponent chooses models to die who arent within 1" of enemy models. If the unit is within engagement range of any enemy models, they can only use pistols to shoot.

Music of the Apocalypse
Each time a model in this unit is slain, it is driven to make one last attack before succumbing to its injuries. Do not remove the slain model yet - after the attacking unit has finished making all its attacks, the slain model can shoot with one of its ranged weapons as if it were your Shooting phase. The slain model is then removed as a casualty as normal.

LOCKED IN COMBAT
Models cannot make attacks with ranged weapons while their unit is
within Engagement Range of any enemy models (pg 4). Models also
cannot target enemy units within Engagement Range of any other
units from your army – the risk of hitting your own troops is too great.

PISTOL
Due to their compact size, pistols can even be used in
melee to shoot at point-blank range.
A model can make attacks with a Pistol even when its unit is within
Engagement Range of enemy units, but it must target an enemy
unit that is within Engagement Range of its own unit when it does
so. In such circumstances, the model can target an enemy unit even
if other friendly units are within Engagement Range of the same
enemy unit.

Thanks everyone. I guess I was thinking 40K was like Warmachine in that there are various phases of dead, and, that "destroyed" meant out of the unit but still on the table until "remove from table" occurs.

Leo_the_Rat wrote:
Thanks everyone. I guess I was thinking 40K was like Warmachine in that there are various phases of dead, and, that "destroyed" meant out of the unit but still on the table until "remove from table" occurs.

Yeah, 40k prefers to keep rules rough and unbalanced so that they can introduce new rules to break everything rather than go into into depth with step-by-step details.